Tennessee House Passes Creationism Bill

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The state that infamously hosted the Scopes Monkey Trial more than 85 years ago is at it again. Yesterday Tennessee’s General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make it easier for public schools to teach creationism. The bill would require educators to “assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies.” It lists four “controversies” ripe for pedagogical tinkering: biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.

“This is part of a long held creationist strategy,” says Steven Newton, policy director for the National Center for Science Education. “By doing everything except mention the Bible, they are attacking evolution without the theology.”

Yesterday’s floor debate on the bill, though not quite as dramatic as Inherit the Wind, was nonetheless a tour de force in creative polemics. For example, Republican state Rep. Frank Niceley implied that Albert Einstein, who was more or less an agnostic Jew, was actually a Christian and ergo creationism should be taught in schools:

Did Butt really learn this in high school? Or is she confusing global warming with ozone layer depletion? Has she seen this piece in Science? Just a few “critical-thought questions” for Butt’s colleagues in the state Senate, who’ll decide the ultimate fate of the bill in the coming months.

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